The Last Stand an Inevitable Fight
by destructve
Summary: A fairly violent yet short work, mostly an experimentation in writing action and a scene that had been stuck in my head, stars our favorite sorceress.


The Last Stand an Inevitable Fight

Rvincent

I do not own Slayers, nor do I claim to. There are many other people more worthy with me that have claims to that series. I do not mean to take away their credit or perform criminal acts of copywrite infringement. I am not making a profit of this fanfic, it is, as the title says, a work of fiction by a fan, for fun simply as an expression of my fandom and as such I mean no harm in its creation. Additionally, for the less legally conscientious reader, this fanfic contains scenes of graphic violence, if these things are upsetting to you, you should probably leave now. Other then that, well, that's all my warnings. Hopefully you will enjoy this short little work.

Classical Snowflake Opening

Lina staggered back, grabbing her ear, for a moment she wondered if her deafness was caused by the actual sound of the impact shattering all the tiny bones in her ear, or if it was simply the result of her eardrum exploding. Pulling her hand back she confirmed that it was covered in blood, but had to immediately leap to the side to avoid another strike. She swooned a bit as she tried to regain her footing, blood from the forehead and numerous other cuts on her face trailing down her skin and managing to invade into her eyes, the salty concoction akin to opening ones eyes while submerged in the ocean. She blinked away the salinity and tried to wipe it away but that had been a mistake. Another strike caught her squarely against the side, she felt more then heard the popping, her ribs not able to withstand the force, some breaking, some cracking, and a very few managing to bend successfully with the force. Against all of her resistance her body reflexively pitched foreword as the backward momentum inflicted on her midsection carried her in two different directions. Desperate and knowing that she had been put into a situation where she was setup for a killing blow she threw herself to the side, the staff catching just the edge of her head, tearing off some hair and skin but missing her vitality.

She tried to catch herself before hitting the ground, bracing with her hands, but she was reminded, however painfully that her right arm was crippled due to one of the first hits she had taken. It dropped out from beneath her, and her head crashed into the ground, fighting through the pain Lina continued the foreword motion of the rest of her body, using her good hand to push off the ground and into a half-roll, which brought her back to her feet, but facing away from her attacker. "Burst..!" She called out, turning but not quick enough, another sharp impact nearly crippling her leg, hobbling her, but thankfully she felt nothing snap. She dropped down to her knees, adrenaline pumping her injuries only made themselves apparent when she abused the injured muscles, like she was now, already trying to get some more distance and knowing she was a hairs breath from being decapitated Lina dropped to her side, and rolled like a log several turns as fast as she could, using that centrifugal force to spin herself onto her feet and into a crouch, however unsteadily, "Flare!" She called out, ethereal flames licking around Lina's hands for a fleeting second before there was an explosion of light, sound and heat, fire engulfing Xelloss as he advanced.

Not believing for a second she did anything but buy herself a moment Lina quickly tried to break into a run, her leg inhibiting her to a great extent, but still moving her from her prone position just in time to see a dozen needles, finer then human hairs silver their way through the air and into the ground next to where she was once crouched, their fine perfection being their only visual indicator of existence, shimmering in the fading fire light. The moment of distraction was so short it didn't register with Lina that she had even been distracted, but Xelloss had moved behind her, she sensed him too late. With a wet thud he slammed his staff into the back of her skull, the vision in her left eye instantly gone, the optic nerve disconnected by the force of her head moving foreword.

Lina heaved, vomiting as she tried to flee a few steps foreword, reaching around to feel the back of her head she suddenly wished she hadn't, the most conspicuous feature on her skull now was a valley at the back of her head, soft to the touch she honestly had to wonder how she was still alive. Feeling that her time had come to an end Lina spun to face her attacker, again the blood clouding the vision in her good eye. Almost absent mindedly Xelloss sung out with his staff, not even following the arc of it with his eyes, striking Lina again squarely in the knee. The cartilage between the joints scraped away like crust pealing off bread. Lina went down, the bottom part of her knee going one way and the top going the other, the respective joints pressing at strange angles into her skin beneath her outfit.

Xelloss stopped a moment, "You knew this would happen one day, didn't you?" Lina grimaced, swallowing hard, the terrible metallic taste the furthest thing from her mind. It didn't help though, she still had a mouth full of blood. Defiant as ever Lina replied, blood nearly pouring from her mouth. "Yeah... I knew this would happen..." Xelloss smiled, "I've always been fond of your emotions Lina, and when the order came down to kill you, I was more then happy to oblige." Lina smiled a bitter smile, only one corner of her lips rising, a crippling numbness spreading over the right side of her face, a stroke, heart attack, she didn't feel the necessity to dwell on it. She tried to stand, muscles straining against cloth and skin in her knee, and keeping her weight on her opposite knee she managed to get to her feet.

Prompting Xelloss to repeat his treatment to her other knee. "Fuck!" She cried out, forced to use what was left of her other knee to slow her ascent as more damage was inflicted on her rag doll of a body. Blood started to pool beneath her, a compound fracture, straight through the skin. Xelloss smiled all the wider, " I believe breaking you will be one of the most fun things I've done in a while." Lina glared at the Mazoku, "You will not break me..." Lina's will was definitely going to be the last thing to go. She wiped her lips, she knew she didn't have long. Xelloss had realized that there had been few things Lina could do to deter him, and by keeping up the relentless attack he managed to cripple Lina, leaving her worried to attempt any spell for fear that if she tried she would be maimed before she could finish.

Lina's words though had caused Xelloss' innate curiosity to fire, his demeanor changed ever so slightly, less serious, and he took a step back, still smiling. "And what can you do Lina, I've destroyed your body." Suddenly though Xelloss slanted his eyes, opening them, his supply of pain and suffering stemming from Lina was... fading. Lina cracked a bloody smile, "I will not give up!" Spats of blood flew from Lina's mouth, landing ineffectually on Xelloss despite the several feet between the two of them. Xelloss chuckled but his face was serious, "Maybe I can't break you, but I can kill you." Again his eyes closed and his smile returned in full force. Lina meanwhile reached down to a small pouch on her belt, clicking it open. "Oh, and what's your ace in the hole this time Lina-Chan?"

She pulled something from the pouch, knowing that once it had been removed from its hiding spot Xelloss would be able to sense it, she felt no need in keeping it hidden any longer. A small piece of coal. Maybe the size of a fingernail and just as thin. Seriousness was again permeating into Xelloss' voice, "What is that?" He deadpanned, trying to instigate the hopelessness of her situation. "How long have you been watching me Xelloss, have you been watching me since the first time I defeated a piece of Shabranigdo?" She was struggling now, breathing was very difficult, but she had to put on her front, Xelloss could read her emotions, heck, he could taste them. As she expected he shook his head no, "But I do recall you were able to defeat him with a combination of your 'special spell' and the Sword of Light, neither of which are in your ability to use at the moment." Lina swallowed hard, trying to force a deep breath but nearly causing herself to gag in the process, "This..." She started out, motioning with her hand, "Is my memento of that fight..."

Xelloss stood up on his toes, the act itself unnecessary as he could see perfectly fine from his vantage point, but the further he brought up Lina's confidence, the farther and more deliciously it would fall shortly, so he humored her. "I knew that you would do this some day Xelloss..." She paused to catch her breath, her body sinking down further on broken knees, "There are two ways to defeat a Mazoku of your power, either I can call upon the power of a stronger Mazoku and use its power to defeat you..." Xelloss nodded but Lina's grin turned downright diabolical, the blood glinted off her dangerously in the light of the fires left from her battle. "But you can also be trapped, by a sufficiently strong magical talisman."

Now it was time for Xelloss to laugh, not his normal chuckle, but an almost human, honest to goodness laugh. He pointed mockingly at his hand, intonating with his staff, "And that's your idea of a joke right, that piece of dirt is a magical talisman strong enough to trap me." Obviously amused with himself he nearly doubled over laughing, Lina swallowed again, hoping against hope that she had the power to pull it off, sure, Xelloss could feel a power come from whatever it was she had, but it was nothing... "This a piece of the Philosophers stone Xelloss, and with it I can do whatever the Fuck I want!" She cried out, suddenly the piece of debris in her hand took to life, shooting out ethereal light in all directions, tiny delicately engraved words on its surface suddenly becoming visible, illuminated from within.

All humor was gone from Xelloss, "No!" He tried to raise up his staff, his form fading from the corporal plane as he tried to flee, disappearing entirely. Lina's heart dropped in her chest, she'd lost. Then, there was a terrible scream, Xelloss' form dragged back into the physical realm. Screaming his voice ragged just as he had when Gaav nearly ripped him in two, so long ago. But the screams didn't stop. A terrible rain of dazzling light shot out from the rock, fish-hook barbs tearing into his flesh, blackness bleeding out. And he kept screaming as more of himself was tore away, as his substance in the material plane was halved, dark matter fell from his body, decomposing to putrid puddles of decay on the ground below. His form started to shift, for a moment becoming unclear and as Lina watched she beheld Xelloss' true form. Bleeding and torn the barbs now coming from the rock ripped him limb from limb, gouts of darkness rising into the air.

The screams were no longer human , wailing coupled with the sound of insects. The sky and all light around Lina had been blotted out. And she felt sick from the evil. Her vision in her good eye started to blackout, her blood was running out. She didn't have long. Her eyelid started to droop, then she saw it, Xelloss' core, maybe the size of her fist, dripping with darkness like a freshly harvested organ, it writhed and pulsed, then slowed, and stopped. Everything was still, the stone still hovered in the air, just in front of Lina, and the luminescent tendrils held 'Xelloss' at length. Then, all at once the tendrils recoiled into the stone, bringing with them the ball of icor.

Hovering for a moment longer the brilliance of the stone dimmed, then, just as quickly it simply dropped to the ground. "Got 'cha..." Lina managed out, dropping onto her butt and finally onto her back. That was it though, she couldn't move, completely drained. She tried to lift her hand. But there was nothing there. She started to close her eyes, her heartbeat soothing her and the blood now covering her body making her warm all over. Drifting away, she faintly heard yelling. She tried to open her eye... there was someone coming... She could hardly hope for anyone though, her brain was too fuzzy to hold out that hope. But slowly into view, she saw them, her three closest friends, and she knew everything would be all right.

Authors notes:

I hope you enjoyed it. It was just a little neat sounding 'fight scene' that I felt the need to write out. Pretty fun to write too, my only serious liberty is that Lina somehow has a piece of the Philosopher's stone, but seriously, Rezo eats the whole thing and falls apart. It is an insanely powerful magical object and it's not completely ridiculous that maybe Lina searched around and managed to find a tiny piece of it. Additionally, she's no fool, she realizes Xelloss' nature, and given that information as motivation, might have taken the time to inscribe some magical symbols on this piece of the stone to make it function as a way to entrap a powerful Mazoku, like Xelloss. Honestly this fanfic is unlike most of my others but if you want to read more of my works you can check out my others works by checking my website in my profile or sending me e-mail. Thanks a lot for reading and have a great day.


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